CHAPTER 8-14 research-methods-for-business-students-eighth-edition-v3f-2

Chapter 14    Writing and presenting your project report case you will need to conceal their identities in your project report. The usual way of doing this is to invent pseudonyms for organisations and not to name individual participants. This should not detract from the impact of your report. Similarly, your sponsoring organisation(s) may have requested sight of your report before it is submitted. Should there be misgivings about the content of the report you should be able to alleviate these by the use of pseudonyms. This is usually a better option than significant text changes. The need for continual revision Phil asked a group of undergraduate students how many of them wrote more than one draft of their assignment papers. He did not expect that many would reply that they did. What he did not predict was that many of them had not even thought this was neces- sary. Submitting the first attempt is due partly to the heavy assessment loads on many courses, which means that students are constantly having to ‘keep up with the clock’. On part-time courses, students these days have so many demands in their daily work that writing an assignment just once is all that is possible. This is the way most of us learnt to write at school. The work is usually seen only by the teacher. The arrangement is a private one. However, project reports are different. They will be seen by an audience much wider than one tutor. They may be placed in the library to be read by succeeding students. You will be judged on the quality of your work. For that reason, we urge you most strongly to polish your work with successive drafts until you are happy that you can do no better (Box 14.12). Having been through this checklist you may decide to make minor alterations to your text. On the other hand, you may rewrite sections or move sections within chapters to other chapters. Keep asking yourself ‘How can I make the reader's task easier?’ Box 14.12 ✔ Have you checked all your references and pre- Checklist sented these in the required manner? To evaluate each draft of your ✔ Is there any text material that should be in the project report appendices or vice versa? ✔ Is there a clear structure? ✔ Does your title reflect accurately your content? ✔ Is there a clear storyline? ✔ Have you divided up your text throughout with ✔ Does your abstract reflect the whole content of suitable headings? the report accurately? ✔ Does each chapter have a preview and a summary? ✔ Does your introduction state the research ✔ Are you happy that your writing is clear, simple question(s) and objectives clearly? and direct? ✔ Does your literature review inform the later con- ✔ Have you eliminated all jargon? ✔ Have you eliminated all unnecessary quotations? tent of the report? ✔ Have you checked spelling and grammar? ✔ Are your methods clearly explained? ✔ Have you checked for assumptions about gender? ✔ Have you made a clear distinction between ✔ Is your report in a format that will be acceptable findings and conclusions in the relevant to the assessing body? chapters? ✔ Would you be proud of your project if it was placed in the university's library as it is now? 738

Writing a reflective essay or section After each successive draft do leave enough time for your thoughts to mature. It is amazing how something you wrote a few days before will now make no sense to you. However, you will also be impressed with the clarity and insight of some passages. Having completed a second draft, you may now feel confident enough to give it to your colleague or friend to read. Ask your reader to use the checklist in Box 14.12 to which you can add specific points that you feel are important (e.g. are my arguments well-reasoned?). 14.7 Meeting the assessment criteria Your readers will assess your work against the assessment criteria that apply to your research programme. It is therefore essential that you familiarise yourself with these crite- ria. More generally, Bloom's (1971) taxonomy (or classification) of educational objectives will help you understand the standard that your project report needs to meet. At the lower levels of this taxonomy, project reports should show knowledge and comprehension of the topic covered. At the intermediate levels they should contain evidence of application and analysis. Application is thought of as the ability to apply certain principles and rules in particular situations. Your method section should be the principal vehicle for demonstrat- ing application. Analysis may be illustrated by your ability to break down your data and to clarify the nature of the component parts and the relationship between them. Whatever your assessment criteria, it is certain that you will be expected to demonstrate your ability at these lower and intermediate levels. The higher levels of this taxonomy are synthesis and evaluation. Synthesis is the pro- cess of putting together or assembling various elements so as to create a new statement or conclusion. The emphasis put on conclusions and, in particular, on the development of a storyline in your project report suggests that we feel that you should be showing evidence of synthesis. Evaluation is the process of judging materials or methods in terms of their accuracy and internal consistency or by comparing them against external criteria. You have the chance to show this ability in the literature review and in the awareness of the limitations of your own research (see Section 14.3). Each of these levels of educational objectives should be demonstrated in your project report. In addition to meeting these, you will also need to make sure that you meet any other assessment criteria. You will need to make sure that your project is correctly formatted, does not exceed the maximum permitted length and contains all of the elements specified for inclusion. A final, more holistic consideration that many of our students find useful is to ask yourself whether you would be proud for your project to be placed in the univer- sity's library as it is now. If your honest answer is ‘no, not yet’, you will have more work to do! Conversely, you will need to submit by the due date and so you will need to make sure that you do not keep polishing one part to the exclusion of completing the whole project. You will therefore need to manage your time carefully in terms of drafting the whole and then refining each part. 14.8 Writing a reflective essay or section As we discussed in earlier chapters, being reflective and reflexive is integral to some research strategies, or particular variants of these. This is particular true of interpretive research strategies. For example, in Section 5.8 we outlined Interpretive Ethnography as an approach in which the researcher engages in continuous reflexivity. Conducting research 739

Chapter 14    Writing and presenting your project report in a reflective and reflexive way is also important in Action Research and Grounded Theory strategies. This approach involves the researcher writing himself or herself into the research by writing in the first person. Of course, not all research strategies encourage reflection and reflexivity during the research process. Neither do they encourage writing in the first person; instead they use an impersonal approach to report the research. This is often true of deductive, survey research. If being reflective and reflexive has not been inte- gral to your research strategy, you will still be familiar with this approach if you have kept a reflective diary or journal throughout your research project. This will be very helpful in writing a reflective essay about your research, or a reflective section in your project report. As we noted in Section 1.5, many universities require a reflective essay or section to be included in the assessment of a research project, sometimes as an appendix in the report. In Section 1.5 we discussed how reflection is a key part of learning. Your reflections about your research should be recorded throughout this process in your reflective diary or jour- nal (Section 13.5). This will enable you to record your progress in a continuous cycle of experience, reflection, evaluation and revised practice. Your reflective diary or journal will help you to improve your practice as your research progresses and then provide you with the source material to write your reflective essay or section. It will of course be important to make regular entries in your research diary or journal and we have encouraged you to do this as you work through the ‘Progressing your research project’ section included in each chapter. Box 14.13 comprises a checklist of questions that you may ask yourself to help you write your reflective essay or section. You should be able to highlight material in your reflective diary or journal to help you to answer the questions in Box 14.13 and write your reflective essay or section. Where you have used a research strategy that incorporates a reflective and reflexive approach and written this into your project report you should also be able to draw on this material to answer these questions to produce a reflective overview. As your reflective essay or section is a personal account of your experiences, practice and learning, it will be appro- priate to write this in the first person, using ‘I’ and ‘my’: such as ‘my experience’, ‘what did I learn’ and ‘what I did differently’. Box 14.13 ✔ What are my key learning points from these Checklist aspects? Checklist to evaluate your reflective ✔ What adjustments did I make to my research prac- essay or section tice as a result of this learning? ✔ Which aspects of my research project went well? ✔ How well did these adjustments work in practice? ✔ Why do I think these aspects of my research pro- ✔ What further adjustments did I make, or could I ject went well? have made, to my research practice and why? ✔ What are my key learning points from these ✔ How would I summarise my learning from aspects? my research project and what skills have I ✔ Which aspects of my research project did not go developed? ✔ How has my learning from this experience influ- so well? enced what I would do in the event of another ✔ Why do I think these aspects of my research pro- research project: what would I do the same and what would I do differently, and why? ject did not go so well? 740

Oral presentation of the report 14.9 Oral presentation of the report Many students, particularly on professional courses, have to present their project report orally as part of the assessment process. The skills required here are quite different from those involved with writing. In this section we briefly consider two types of presentation, an oral presentation supported by the use of slides and perhaps a whiteboard and a poster presentation. Slide presentations We discuss this type of presentation under three headings: planning and preparing; the use of visual aids; and presenting, although many points outlined here will also be relevant where you prepare and make a poster presentation. Planning and preparing We make no apology for starting this section with the trainer's proverb: ‘Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.’ Your assessors will forgive any inadequacies that stem from inexperi- ence, but they will be much less forgiving of students who have paid little attention to preparation. You can be sure of one thing about insufficient preparation: it shows, par- ticularly to the experienced tutor. All presentations should have clear aims and objectives. Your aim should be to give the audience members an overview of your report in such a way that it will capture their interest. Keep it clear and simple. By achieving this you will meet the most basic assess- ment criterion: that sometime later the tutor in the audience can remember clearly your main project storyline. Your objectives are more specific. They should start you thinking about the interests of your audience. These should be phrased in terms of what it is you want your audience members to be able to do after your presentation. Since your presenta- tion will usually be confined to the imparting of knowledge, it is sufficient to phrase your objectives in terms of the audience members being able, for example, to define, describe, explain or clarify. It is a good idea to share the objectives with your audience members so they know about the journey on which they are being taken (Box 14.14). Setting clear objectives for your presentation leads you neatly to deciding the content. This should be straightforward because your abstract should serve as your guide to the content. After all, the purpose of the abstract is to give the reader a brief overview of the report, which is precisely the same purpose as the presentation. How much detail you go into on each point will be determined largely by the time at your disposal. The audience member who wants more detail can always ask you to elaborate or read it in the report. The final point to note here is to think about the general approach you will adopt in delivering your presentation. It is a good idea to involve the audience members rather than simply tell them what it is you want them to know. Thirty minutes of you talking at the audience members can seem like an age, for you and sometimes for them! Inviting them to ask questions throughout the presentation is a good way of ensuring that the talk is not all in one direction. Rarely will tutors miss the opportunity of asking you to ‘dig a little deeper’ to test your understanding, so don't worry that no questions will arise. However, you must be careful to ensure that you do not let questions and answers run away with time. The more you open up your presentation to debate, the less control you have of time. In general, we do not think it is a good idea to attempt to emulate tutors and turn your presentation into a teaching session. We have seen students set the audience mini-exercises to get them involved, but often these tend to fall flat. Play to your strengths and enjoy the opportunity to share your detailed knowledge with an interested audience. 741

Chapter 14    Writing and presenting your project report Box 14.14 Focus on student research Presenting the objectives for a allowed him to produce various designs of slide to project meet his purpose, examples of which are shown in the following versions: Phil created the following slides in Microsoft Power Point as part of a lecture on project presentation. This Version 1: Standard PowerPoint slide Objectives for a presentation • To describe the purpose of the research project • To explain the context in which the research project research was set  • To identify the research strategy adopted and the reasons for its choice  • Treocolismt mtheen mdaatiino nfi  snfldoinwgisn, gco fnroclmus tiohne sr easnedarch • N.B.  Detail related to the specific project may be added  Version 2: PowerPoint slide using a design template 742

Oral presentation of the report Version 3: PowerPoint slide using more colour Version 4: PowerPoint slide with photograph inserted Version 5: PowerPoint slide with space for the audience to add notes 743

Chapter 14    Writing and presenting your project report Using visual aids Now another proverb: ‘I hear and I forget, I see and I remember’ (Rawlins 1999: 37). The use of visual aids will do more than enhance the understanding of your audience. It will help you to look better prepared and therefore more professional. A simple set of slides will perform the same function as a set of notes, in that it will ensure that you do not forget key points and will help you to keep your presentation on track. You will know the material so well that a key point noted on the overhead will be enough to trigger your thought process and focus the attention of the audience. Key points will also ensure that you are not tempted to read a script for your presentation, something that will not sustain the attention of your audience for very long. Using Microsoft PowerPoint™ makes it easy to produce a highly professional presentation, using slides which can include simple illustrations to reinforce a point or add a little humour. Virtually all organisations have digital video projectors to project the slides directly from a computer, which adds to the degree of professionalism. This allows you electronically to reveal each point as you talk about it while concealing forthcoming points. However, whilst design templates and colour can be used to improve the visual appeal of individual slides (Box 14.14, versions 2 and 3), beware of using a variety of different fonts, special effects, or including illustrations that have no relevance to the presentation (Box 14.4, version 4). PowerPoint also allows you to print miniature versions of your slides as a handout or note pages (Box 14.14, version 5), which is a very useful aide-mémoire for the audience. You may want to supplement your pre-prepared slides with the use of the whiteboard. This may be useful for explaining points in relation to questions you receive. A word of warning here: ensure that you use dry markers that can be wiped from the board. A vain attempt to erase the results of a permanent pen in front of your audience will do nothing to enhance your confidence. Ensuring that you have dry wipe markers (use only black and blue pens – red and green are too faint) and checking computers and projectors before the presentation, serve to emphasise the need for careful preparation. Giving the presentation The first thing to say here is: don't worry about nerves. You may expect to be a little nerv- ous as you commence your presentation and your audience may also expect this. The best way to minimise nervousness is to have prepared your presentation carefully and to have practised it beforehand. Be positive about your presentation and your report. Trial your presentation in front of a friend to ensure that it flows logically and smoothly. You also need to ensure that you can deliver it in the allotted time. In our experience most students put too much material in their presentations, although they worry beforehand that they have not got enough. It is important that your presentation has a clear structure. One way to achieve this is to follow the structure of many news programmes, in which the newsreader firstly tells the audience what she or he is going to say (the ‘headlines’), then elaborates on these by explaining their content and finishes by summarising them again. In a similar way your audience will want to know what to expect from your presentation, then which part they are currently observing and finally to understand your conclusions. Finally, some practical points that will help: • Think about whether you would prefer to sit or stand at the presentation. The for- mer may be better to foster debate, the latter is likely to give you a sense of ‘control’ (Rawlins 1999). Which one you choose may depend upon the circumstances of the presentation, including the approach you wish to adopt, the room layout, the equip- ment you are using and your preferred style. 744

Oral presentation of the report • Consider how you will deal with difficult questions. Try to anticipate these and how you would answer them, so that you can deal with them confidently during the presentation. • Avoid jargon. • Check the room before the presentation to ensure you have everything you need, you are happy and familiar with the layout, and all your equipment is working. Poster presentations You may be required to present your research project as a poster presentation. The pur- pose of a poster is not to provide a detailed explanation of your research, but to give a succinct and clear message about the main aspects. You therefore need to be selective in what you include. While some of the points we have just outlined will be relevant other points need to be considered. We consider these under two headings: planning and pre- paring your poster; presenting your poster. Planning and preparing your poster Like presentational slides, your poster needs to be well designed, clearly structured and easy for your audience to understand. Typically your poster will contain the following: • Title; • Summary; • Short introduction including key literature; • Aim and objectives/research question; • Methodology; • Findings/Results; • Discussion and/or Conclusions. Each of these sections will be succinct. Your title will need to be short and catch the reader's attention. It should be followed by your name. The introduction will briefly state what you did and the key literature on which your research draws. The method will very briefly outline how you did it. The main findings will be summarised; and the conclusions will summarise how you addressed your aim. The number of words which your poster contains will be likely to number no more than a few hundred, with a maximum of one thousand, and this will be affected by any figures or visual images also incorporated into the poster. The poster needs to be self-explanatory, with clear headings and points of information (rather than extended blocks or paragraphs of text). It needs to be readable from two to three metres away, so ensure the font is large enough. The clarity of your poster will be aided by leaving space around points rather than making it appear complex or dense. The exact design of your poster will depend on the amount of space you have, its format and the technology you are using (Figure 14.2). The format of a poster may be either portrait or landscape. Where you have a choice about which you use, you will be able to experi- ment with the format that best suits your presentation. A portrait poster is often divided into two columns, while a landscape poster may be divided into three or possibly four columns, albeit with less depth. As an alternative to preparing and using a traditional poster, you may have the oppor- tunity to produce and use an electronic poster. This may take the form of a static image and therefore be the equivalent of a traditional poster. You may also have the opportunity to produce an electronic poster that incorporates moving images such as video clips and a short, spoken flash presentation. 745

Chapter 14    Writing and presenting your project report Figure 14.2  Poster outlining a research project © Chaiyatorn Limapornvanich 2018, reproduced with permission 746

Self-check questions Presenting your poster Your poster should be designed to ‘speak’ for itself. As noted it should be easy to read and easy to understand. Your role during the presentation will be, at least for some of the time it is being shown, to answer questions from those who look at and read your poster. These questions are likely to focus on seeking further information about your research. They may relate to why you chose your topic, the methods you used, the literature you read and how this informed your research, your findings, discussion and conclusions, your reflections about your research and key learning points. You therefore need to be prepared to answer a wide range of questions about your research project outside the necessarily limited scope of what you are able to include on your poster. Like a traditional, oral presentation, you may consider practising your poster presenta- tion by showing this to friends and inviting them to ask you questions, to see how well you can answer their questions. You may also need to provide a handout related to your poster presentation and you will need to consider the design and production of this. 14.10 Summary • Writing is a powerful way of clarifying your thinking. • Writing is a creative process, which needs the right conditions if it is to produce successful results. • Your project report should have a clear structure that enables you to develop a clear storyline. • The structure you use should be suitable for your research strategy. • The structure you use should also be suitable for the report's audience. This audience may be an academic one or an organisational one, as is the case of a consultancy report. • Your report should be laid out in such a way that your reader finds all the information readily accessible. • You should try to develop a clear, simple writing style that will make reading the report an easy and enjoyable experience. • Spelling and grammatical errors should be avoided. • Do not think of your first draft as your last. Be prepared to rewrite your report several times until you think it is the best you can do. • A reflective essay or section will allow you to comment on your experience, discuss your learning and improve your research practice. • Presentations using slides or a poster should be carefully structured and purposeful, and it will help to practise it beforehand. • Visual aids should be used to enhance the understanding of your audience and lend your presentation structure and professionalism. Self-check questions Help with these questions is available at the end of the chapter. 14.1 Your project tutor has returned your draft project report with the suggestion that you make a clearer distinction between your results and your conclusions. How will you go about this? 14.2 Why is it considered good practice to acknowledge the limitations of your research in the project report? 747

Chapter 14    Writing and presenting your project report 14.3 Look again at the quote from Wright Mills cited early in Section 14.6. Rewrite this so that his idea is communicated to the reader in the clearest way possible. 14.4 What are the problems that must be avoided when repositioning sections of your report in the redrafting processes? 14.5 Your friend or colleague is concerned about preparing her or his project presentation. What advice will you give to help him or her prepare this presentation? Review and discussion questions 14.6 Draft a plan for your project report, show it to your friends and compare your plan with those they have drafted. Explain the reason for any differences between your plan and those of your friends. 14.7 Look through several of the refereed academic journals that relate to your subject area. Choose an article that is based upon some primary research and note the structure of the article. Decide whether you agree with the way in which the author has structured the article and think of ways in which you may have done this differently. 14.8 Share pieces of your writing with a group of your friends. Look at the example in Box 14.11 and subject all the pieces to the ‘write clearer sentences’ test. Progressing your • The structure you devise, related to your research research project approach and research strategy, will have implica- tions for the way in which you discuss the role Writing your project report of literature, theory, methods, findings and con- clusions in your project report. As you produce • Where you have a choice about how to structure your draft, continue to evaluate how well these your report, use the discussion in Section 14.3 to elements fit together without overlapping (see help you to devise a report structure that will be next point) in your report. Where the story of your suitable for the research approach and research research is not clear, you will need to continue to strategy you used, to allow you to tell a clear re-draft the report. story about your project. Where you do not have a choice about how to structure your report but • As the draft of your report develops, ensure that you feel that the given format is inappropriate for you distinguish between describing events, outlin- your approach and strategy, consider how you ing methods, reporting findings, and interpreting may present your research within this structure and theorising about what you found. This will be to tell a clear story about your project. Discuss important irrespective of the structure you use so this with your project tutor and ensure that the that your readers may distinguish between these structure you use meets the expectations of your elements in your work. Where you use an alterna- examiners. tive structure and wish to include more than one of these elements in the same chapter, you will • As you draft each part of your project report, need to distinguish between these by, for exam- continue to review your work to ensure that the ple, using different sections with unmistakable content is clear and accessible and your writing headings. style is appropriate. Be prepared to read your draft material very carefully and repeatedly in order to • Give your report the ‘reader-friendly’ test to seek to improve its clarity and style. Where pos- ensure that your style is easy to read, and the con- sible, re-read and amend drafts of a section or tent is clear and free from avoidable errors. chapter when your mind is fresh. • Use the questions in Box 1.4 to guide your reflec- tive diary entry. 748

Further reading References Becker, H. (2007) Writing for Social Scientists (2nd edn). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Bloom, B. (ed.) (1971) Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain. New York: McKay. Charmaz, K. (2014) Constructing Grounded Theory (2nd edn). London: Sage. Coghlan, D. and Brannick, T. (2014) Doing Action Research in Your Own Organisation (4th edn). London: Sage. Day, R.A. (1998) How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (5th edn). Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press. Emerald Group Publishing (2018) A 6 step guide to writing an abstract. Available at http://www .emeraldgrouppublishing.com/authors/guides/write/abstracts.htm [Accessed 04 June 2018]. Gastel, B. and Day, R.A. (2017) How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (8th edn). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lange, D. and Pfarrer, M.D. (2017) ‘Editors’ Comments: Sense and Structure – The Core Building Blocks of an AMR Article', Academy of Management Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 407–416. Neville, C. (2016) The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism (3rd edn). London: Open University Press McGraw Hill. Phillips, E.M. and Pugh, D.S. (2015) How to Get a PhD (6th edn). Maidenhead: Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education. Rawlins, K. (1999) Presentation and Communication Skills: A Handbook for Practitioners. London: Emap Healthcare Ltd. Richards, P. (2007) ‘Risk’, in H. Becker (ed.) Writing for Social Scientists (2nd edn). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research (2nd edn). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. The Free Dictionary (2014) ‘Gibberish’. Available at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gibberish [Accessed 03 June 2018]. Van Maanen, J. (2011a) ‘Ethnography as work: Some rules of engagement’, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 218–34. Van Maanen, J. (2011b) Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography (2nd edn). London: University of Chicago Press. Watson, T.J. (2011) ‘Ethnography, reality, and truth: The vital need for studies of “how things work” in organizations and management’, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 202–17. Wright Mills, C. (1970) ‘On intellectual craftsmanship’, in C. Wright Mills, The Sociological Imagina- tion. London: Pelican. Yin, R.K. (2018) Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods (6th edn). London: Sage. Further reading Charmaz, K. (2014) Constructing Grounded Theory (2nd edn). London: Sage. Chapter 7 contains use- ful advice on writing a Grounded Theory project report. Coghlan, D. and Brannick, T. (2014) Doing Action Research in Your Own Organisation (4th edn). London: Sage. Chapter 11 contains useful advice on writing an Action Research project report. Gastel, B. and Day, R.A. (2017) How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper (8th edn). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This takes the reader through the process, with a host of useful advice. It is funny and irreverent but nonetheless valuable for that! Neville, C. (2016) The Complete Guide to Referencing and Plagiarism (3rd edn). London: Open University Press McGraw-Hill. A useful guide to both how to reference and how to help ensure you do not inadvertently plagiarise the work of others. 749

Chapter 14    Writing and presenting your project report Van Maanen, J. (2011b) Tales of the Field: On Writing Ethnography (2nd edn). London: The University of Chicago Press. A fascinating read even if you are not writing an ethnography, but essential if you are to understand how it may be approached. Yin, R.K. (2018) Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods (6th edn). London: Sage. Chapter 6 contains helpful advice on writing a Case Study project report. Case 14 Presenting research findings to a business audience As a master's student John had to undertake a consultancy project based on a live issue within an organisa- tion. John was working for a large, global, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) producer and chose to focus on developing a learning and develop- ment (L&D) programme for a selection of key account managers (KAMs). John reviewed the literature on KAM and L&D, devised clear research objectives and conducted a number of interviews and focus groups (multi-method qualita- tive research). He analysed his findings using a thematic approach (Braun and Clarke, 2006) and produced a series of recommendations. All in all, John felt he had pro- duced an academically robust piece of work, which was just within the 10,000 words limit set by his university. Once the project report was submitted to the University, John began to focus on how he would present his work to senior colleagues in his organisation. He knew that they would not read his consultancy project in full and that, in order to ensure his research made an impact within his organisation, he would need to focus on the key aspects that would be of interest to them. John's project tutor offered to review a draft of the report for the organisation and asked John to send this to him in advance of their next meeting. John's initial draft for his employer comprised a 5,000 word version of the university project report, using the same headings: • Introduction • Academic literature on Key Account Management • Academic literature on Learning and Development • Research Methodology and Methods • Findings and Analysis • Conclusions and Recommendations He intended to email this short report to work colleagues and then to make a 15-minute pres- entation at a future meeting using PowerPoint. While this shortened version would be useful in an academic context, his project tutor knew that it would not meet the needs of senior colleagues. At their next meeting, his project tutor 750

EB Case 14: Presenting research findings to a business audience Wasked John to describe the forms of communication used within his organisation and to reflect on the types of communication that made the most impact. John's project tutor then asked him to reflect on his initial plan for communicating his findings at work. John chuckled, noting that he had written the report using a similar layout to the main consul- tancy project, without giving due regard to the fact that the intended audiences were very different. He mentioned how he had forgotten what he had learned in the communications workshops – to focus on the needs of the audience. He now realised that he needed to find a way to cut through the volume of daily missives and to communicate the value of his research in under five minutes. He and his project tutor then discussed Customer Value Proposition (Anderson et al. 2006), a core topic in the Sales module, which John had taken, and the need for him to have a strong ‘elevator pitch’ – a short statement which would catch the attention of colleagues. After a few drafts they settled on: “Hello. I have clear research findings, which will help us develop a world-class L&D programme for our KAMs which will help us to beat the competition and grow our market share. If I can have 5 minutes at our next meeting I would love to share these insights with you”. They agreed that if probed for further information John could then explain the background to the research. Once he had agreement to add an agenda item at the next meeting, John needed a way to communicate to his colleagues in an engaging manner. He mentioned that written docu- ments presented at meetings were usually quite short, often a maximum of one page, but he questioned how impactful yet another written document would be. He also knew that a Power- Point presentation was unlikely to be shared. John needed to think of a more engaging format. References Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psy- chology, 3(2), pp.77–101 Anderson, J.C., Narus, J.A. & Van Rossum, W. (2006), Customer value propositions in business mar- kets. Harvard Business Review, 84 (3), pp. 1–8. Questions 1 What key aspects of John's research would be likely to be of interest to his colleagues? 2 Why would a shortened version of the project report be unlikely to meet the needs of a pro- fessional audience? 3 a What do you think were likely to be the current communication practices in John's large global organisation? b  Give reasons for your answer 4 a  How do you think John should present his work? b  Give reasons for your answer Additional case studies relating to material covered in this chapter are available via the book's companion website: www.pearsoned.co.uk/saunders. They are: • Writing Lata's project report. • Amina's story. • Akasma's draft disappointment. • James' consultancy report on managers' financial information needs. • Clare's research project presentation. • Elena's research project write-up. 751

EBChapter 14    Writing and presenting your project report W Self-check answers 14.1 This is easier said than done. Start by going through your results chapter, continually ask- ing yourself ‘Did I find this out?’ You will probably weed out a lot of things that you have thought about that are related to points you found out. These belong in the conclusions (or discussion) chapter. Now turn to the conclusions chapter, asking yourself the question: ‘Is this a reflection of what I found out?’ If the points are a repeat of what you covered in your findings sec- tion, then cut them out and make sure you write reflections on the findings. 14.2 It will demonstrate good practice in two respects. First, it will demonstrate that you have evaluated your research design. Second, it will help you to evaluate how you would alter this design if you were going to repeat your research, or if you were going to undertake further research. Remember that there is no perfect research design. 14.3 Academic writing is often difficult to understand. This is not usually because the subject matter is complex or the thoughts profound. It is because the writer thinks it necessary to write in an ‘academic’ way. 14.4 The ‘road map’ you announced in your introduction may not now be correct. The pre- views and summaries at the beginning and end of the relevant chapters may need chang- ing. A more serious potential problem is that the storyline may be altered. This should not be the case. Nonetheless, it would important to re-read the whole report to ensure that any repositioning does not alter its sense of coherence. 14.5 You may emphasise the general point that preparation is very important, not least because this will help to overcome any nervousness that your friend will feel when he or she makes the presentation. You may also emphasise that she or he should think about the audience and what is it that he or she will want to tell them. You may tell her or him to make sure that the presentation has clear objectives and that it should be kept simple so that there is no danger of overloading the audience with too much information in a short period. This will mean telling the audience what they need to know and eliminating other information. You may also tell him or her that using visual aids will be important but that these should support the key points you wish to make and not be used to show off your technical skills as this may only serve to annoy or confuse your audience. Clear visual aids will also be helpful to your friend in delivering her or his presentation. You may also advise your friend to practise his or her presentation, to invite members of the audi- ence to ask some questions during the actual performance to help to engage them but to remain mindful of the time allowed to complete it. Get ahead using resources on the companion website at: www.pearsoned.co .uk/saunders. • Improve your IBM SPSS Statistics analysis with practice tutorials. • Save time researching on the Internet with the Smarter Online Searching Guide. • Test your progress using self-assessment questions. • Follow live links to useful websites. 752